Featured Articles Archive - Page 646

Despite speculation, analyst can't see Bally-Aristocrat deal

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Speculation that slot maker Bally Technologies might be acquired by Australian rival Aristocrat Technologies has sent the Las Vegas-based company's stock soaring in recent days. But one gaming analyst said Friday that even though there would be some synergies from a deal, he doesn't see it happening. Bally Technologies shares have jumped about 7 percent this week on the New York Stock Exchange following heavy trading...read more

Frank spokesman denies rumor

Repealing the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act is not on the House Committee on Financial Services' to-do list. Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) railed against the UIGEA last year as an invasion of privacy before, during and after its passage last year, leading to rumors that he was moving to repeal the legislation...read more

WSOP officials ban ".net" advertising

Logos and banners advertising of some dot.NET sites will no longer be allowed at the World Series of Poker, spokesperson Gary Thompson said Wednesday. Harrah's is banning ads for dot.net sites affiliated with real-money online poker rooms that accept U.S...read more

Boyd profits exceed forecast

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Gaming analysts didn't have high expectations going into Boyd Gaming Corp.'s fourth-quarter earnings announcement Tuesday. Most thought business at the company's casinos catering toward Las Vegas locals had been hurt by new competition. But with a little help from a $36 million insurance payment related to hurricane damage claims at its Louisiana racetrack casino and improved results at its Las Vegas properties, Boyd Gaming beat back those dour predictions. The company said Tuesday its net income for the quarter that ended Dec...read more

Gambling industry: Three-ring circus of a weekend

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Last weekend's triple whammy on the Strip -- the National Basketball Association's All-Star Game, Chinese New Year and Presidents Day Weekend -- brought large crowds but may not have translated into the overflowing casino cash boxes that operators had expected. Several gaming analysts, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the audience associated with the NBA All-Star Game overwhelmed some of the Strip's largest casinos, displacing the deep-pocketed gamblers associated with Chinese New Year. The overlap of the three events, along with a layover by attendees from the Men's Apparel Guild in California show that brought more than 100,000 delegates to town last week, may have been a little much for the casinos to handle. Wall Street research analysts said that spending for hotel rooms and nightclubs, restaurants and other amenities run by the casinos could calculate into a banner weekend...read more

Thank you giftcards.com

I'm an instant gratification type of guy. Waiting for days as my deposit jumps through hoops to get to my poker account drives me insane. So when I heard about players depositing using gift cards to fund their poker accounts in the wake of the recent U.S...read more

The future giants of Internet gambling may end up being familiar names

When The Sands announced it would open an Internet casino targeting the U.K. market in December, European gaming companies cried foul. How could an American company open an online casino and target Europeans when the U.S. Department of Justice was prosecuting executives of regulated European Internet gaming companies that allowed U.S...read more

Doyle's Room blocks U.S. players, offers transfers to Full Tilt

The Doyle Brunson Poker Network announced today that it would stop allowing U.S. players to play real-money games on its sites, effective March 1, 2007. The Internet poker room, however, will allow existing players to transfer their money and "action points" to Full Tilt Poker accounts. Players wishing to transfer balances to Full Tilt can easily do so using through the Doyle's Room cashier by simply providing their Full Tilt User ID and e-mail address...read more

FTOPS success continues

The Full Tilt Online Poker Series (FTOPS) has grown 130 % since it first began and 60 % from December's FTOPS II. The rapid growth has made the series the second-largest reoccurring Internet poker tournament series. Only PokerStars' World Championship of Online Poker (WCOOP) is larger...read more

The Strip: Help wanted, a lot of it

LAS VEGAS, Nevada -- Casino operators believe they will have no problem filling hotel rooms with guests and packing casinos with free-spending gamblers during the current building boom, which is expected to bring at least four new resorts to the Strip and an estimated 45,000 more hotel rooms to the Las Vegas market by 2012. Finding enough employees to clean the rooms, work the restaurants and staff the casinos may not be as easy. Deutsche Bank Securities, in a report to its investors, said the Las Vegas casino industry will need to hire some 113,500 workers for the positions being created by the new resorts...read more